1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to instant messaging. More specifically, the present invention provides a method, system, chat interface, and computer program product for comparing free time between instant message (IM) chat members in order to schedule an upcoming event.
2. Background Art
As the use of computer technology continues to expand, computer users are increasingly communicating with each other in a network environment (e.g., over the Internet). One popular form of such communication is known as “chatting.” In general, a chat is communication forum that allows users (i.e., “chat members”) to exchange textual, graphical, video, and/or audio messages, or combinations thereof, as if they were communicating in person.
To date, several different types of forums exist whereby users can conduct chats over a network. Several examples include chat rooms and instant messaging (IM) services (e.g., Lotus Instant Messaging and Web Conferencing, MSN Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), etc.), which allow users to communicate with each other on a one-on-one, one-on-many, or many-on-many basis.
Many IM services allow a user to maintain a “buddy list” containing a listing of other users frequently contacted via the IM service. Such a buddy list may also be used to provide activity/calendaring information to other users. For example, the buddy list may display user-provided activity/calendaring messages to other users (e.g., “I'm in a meeting,” “I'll be back at my desk in 1 hour,” “I'll be away on vacation from Jan. 1, 2004 to Jan. 15, 2014,” etc.). While the activity/calendaring message function provided via a buddy list is somewhat helpful, it does not provide sufficient information to allow users participating in a chat to easily determine an acceptable mutual time to schedule an event involving the users, such as a face-to-face meeting, a teleconference an IM chat, etc.
In view of the foregoing, there exists a need for a method, system, chat interface, and program product for performing a free time search between users involved in a chat (e.g., by comparing user calendars), for allowing users involved in a chat to quickly and easily determine a suitable time for scheduling an upcoming event based on the results of the free time search, and for allowing the users to schedule the upcoming event directly from the chat interface.